End to a Long Day
by thecrystalkey
Summary: PostDay 3 wrapup combined with how Chloe ended up working for Jack. I mostly wrote it to explore the ChloeJack friendship. SECOND CHAPTER ADDED. It really is complete this time.
1. Chapter 1

Title: End To A Long Day.

Author: thecrystalkey

Summary: Jack/Chloe friendship, first meeting

Spoilers: Season 3 of 24

**Disclaimer**: Nothing in '24' is mine, especially not the characters that appear or are mentioned here or any of the Day 3 plot lines mentioned. Even the background I created for Chloe came from hints dropped on the show. It all belongs to Twentieth Century Fox, Real Time Productions and its creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran.

**Author's note**: Not my best work (queen of the run-on sentence) but I thought it needed writing. My only excuse is that Jack's head is really hard to get into. Any suggestions for improvements would be greatly appreciated. Also, FYI the 36 in that first sentence is deliberate because while the show's day started at 1PM, I doubt the characters did. Now that I've finished stating the obvious…on to the story.

Los Angeles – 1:15 P.M.(post-Day 3)

After the seemingly endless 36 hours without sleep or rest it had taken to finish setting up the Salazars and then deal with Saunders, Jack Bauer had wanted nothing better than to collapse. He'd done things today he wasn't sure he'd ever be able to get over and knew he needed to deal with his reaction to them. But he didn't have that luxury just yet. He was still Director of Field Ops and interim Director of all of CTU-Los Angeles. It was up to him to deal with all the fallout from the last day and a half.

President Palmer had promised him the space to get things as completely in order as possible before appointing CTU a new Director. He'd offered the job to Jack, who'd refused with little regret. He'd pointed out that he was a heroin junkie (soon-to-be ex-junkie but, still) even though the truth was that he didn't want his old job back.

He accepted that it was best for CTU that he stay on as acting-Director until everything got back to normal, but that was as long as he was willing to keep the position. As it was, it would take days to sort out the events of today; the after-action reports, the catch-up work, and the final mop up of Stephen Saunders' forces. It might even take months to finish figuring out who had betrayed whom, and how, and why, and when.

It would be hours yet before Jack himself could clear enough of his schedule to actually get some sleep. On his way from the hospital to the quarantine zone he'd been called to, Jack rested his phone in the car cradle and hit speed dial to CTU.

"CTU Comms, O'Brian," a welcome voice answered.

"Chloe. You're up to date on the situation?"

"Yeah, Jack. I heard about Chase. That must have been really awful for both of you, especially with Chase and Kim." She paused a moment. "I'm sorry, that's none of my business. Is he- Is Chase gonna be okay?"

"Hopefully. He's in surgery now. They won't know until he wakes up whether we got him and his hand there in time."

"Oh. But, h-he'll live, right? So, that's good."

"Yeah, barring complications, he'll live." It was almost the best news Jack had had all day. Which he supposed said something about his day so far.

"Well, even if you weren't in time and Chase has to live one-handed, I'm glad he's still alive." She was stumbling over her words, obviously trying her best to find comforting ones. "And I bet he is, too. Or he would be if he weren't unconscious. And you're the reason for that, so, thank you."

He smiled a little. He didn't know why but her rambling made him feel a little better. "You're welcome."

"How are you? You had to make some hard choices today. Are you ok?" she asked softly, as though unsure it was any of her business.

He found his usual brusque 'I'm fine' transforming to an honest answer in the face of her genuine concern. She did that, sometimes, her unflinching honesty bringing the same out in him. He didn't have to pretend with Chloe. She wouldn't have asked if she hadn't wanted a real answer. He wondered if she'd still care if and when she found out what had really happened to Ryan Chapelle. What Jack had threatened to do to Stephen's daughter. He didn't doubt that she'd find out. Sooner or later Chloe found out everything that went on, in or out of the field.

"No, I don't think I am. But I can still do the job; so, for now, I'll be fine. Thanks for asking. You've had about as much rest as I have today," he changed the subject. "How are you holding up?"

He could hear the smile, and the self-deprecation, in her voice. "I've been sitting behind a computer all day, I'm fine. Although I think Adam's got a stack of complaints about me ready to go onto your desk. Piled on top of the ones from Mr. Chappelle and Tony."

That, he hoped, was a joke. Knowing Chloe, it probably wasn't. Then again, Jack fully intended to do what he'd done with the other complaints people had submitted about her and ignore them completely. After all, he thought darkly, Ryan and Tony were in no position to complain and Adam wasn't high enough on the food chain to press the issue.

"I wouldn't mind if those disappeared before I got back to it," he answered, only half-joking. "How many people have been on since yesterday morning?" Jack asked, getting to the original purpose of his call. There was the click of keyboard keys on Chloe's end.

"All the senior staff," she answered after a moment. "Though most of them seem to be in hospital, dead or – arrested. I'm sorry. Everyone Level 4 and above. The Level 3 and below analysts stuck to regular rotations. So did Field Ops, except for you and, well, Chase."

"Okay. Listen, I'm going to need after-action reports from the field agents; and everyone Level 4 and above is going to need to be debriefed. The analysts shouldn't take long, they just have to sign off on their hourlies. Once that's done, they can start to go home. Unless there's something really suspicious, questions can wait until they come in tomorrow.

"I want you to set that up, start with the people who've been there the longest. Send them home if they don't leave on their own. The immediate crisis is over, anyone not actively working on a protocol should go home and get rest. And if anyone wants a couple of days leave, give it to them; I'll sign the paperwork when I get in."

"Rae Plachecki from Division volunteered to take the after action reports," she said hesitantly. "Since she's, um, done with Tony. If you don't want her to, I can find someone else, but she already knows what she's doing."

"That's fine," Jack said shortly.

"Who do you want to deal with the analysts? Or should I just send them to her as well?"

"No. Rae's probably got her hands full. Normally Michelle would do it but she's with Tony and I doubt she'd be up to it in any case."

"No kidding," Chloe said.

"Chloe," he chided tiredly. "Have Adam do it. He knows what to look for in the hourlies-"

"I don't think that's such a good idea, Jack. His sister died today. In one of the quarantine zones. I thought…he should probably be one of the first people to go home. Be with his family."

Jack, sitting at a red light, closed his eyes in a sympathetic wince. "Ask him what he wants to do. If he isn't up to it…find someone else. Or do it yourself. Just get it done."

"Right."

He hung up and concentrated on his breathing for a moment, determined to keep his emotions in check for now. Now was not the time to react; that would come later. He needed to focus on the job.

---

Los Angeles – 7:00 PM (post-Day 3)

It had taken hours to finish setting up the last of the quarantine zones. He'd had to go to almost all of them himself, to personally organize the handoff from the CTU Tac teams to local law enforcement. He'd sent the last of them back to headquarters while he held a short meeting with the Chief of LAPD, who'd shown up at the last of the quarantine areas and demanded an update. The meeting had been shirt because Jack had walked out when the Chief started to repeat himself.

Still, Jack didn't get back to CTU headquarters until just before seven. Rae Plachecki had been waiting for him, but had taken one look at him and told him she'd see him when he looked human again. She said to get some sleep and left.

The evening shift was on when Jack finally dragged himself through Comms and back up to his office. Everything was humming along as if the day before had been completely normal. That was undoubtedly Chloe's doing. Jack smiled to himself. She might be socially inept and argumentative, but no one could fault her work.

It was a measure of how tired he was that Jack was standing in his office doorway before what he'd seen on the way registered. He turned to face the Field Ops office, then moved forward into it. Not all of the day shift had gone home. Chloe O'Brian was slumped sideways on her desk, head pillowed on one arm, fast asleep.

Her computer and desk-light were on, but the rest of the lights in Field Ops were off. She couldn't have been out long because her screensaver wasn't even up yet. A cup of coffee was cooling slowly at her elbow. Jack's expression softened and a small smile crossed his lips as he studied the difficult young woman. She'd been waiting for him to come back, as she'd waited for him and Chase before now. He'd expected her to wait for the last field teams to be in, she considered that part of her job as Field Ops ITS; he hadn't thought she'd wait for him to come back, too.

Right now she looked beyond exhausted and Jack wasn't sure if he should wake her to send her home or leave her asleep. Using past behaviour as an indicator, even if he woke her she'd refuse to leave until he did. Just in case something else came up. At least that was what she'd say.

He moved the cup of coffee, knowing she would never forgive herself if she knocked it over onto her desk or, worse, her keyboard. She'd been working on a statement about Tony, Jack saw; trying to walk the thin line between her natural blunt honesty and diplomatic wording that wouldn't make things worse than they already were for the currently-imprisoned CTU Director.

For most people, she wouldn't have bothered with the effort. Chloe believed that people should be willing to face the consequences of their actions or they shouldn't take those actions. Normally she would have seen no point to putting spin on her report. She must be feeling sorry for Tony. Not that many people (even Tony) would have believed it, but Jack could. She had emotions, she just hid them behind an almost impenetrable wall of sarcasm and rudeness.

In Chloe's world, it was unprofessional to give in to emotions when there was a job to do. And it was weakness to admit to having them at all in front of the people you worked with, in any case. Jack had had his doubts about her at first, but in many ways she reminded him of himself. As he watched her sleep, Jack remembered the first time they'd met.

--

18 months earlier.

"We've got a security breach," Adam reported. "I can't tell if it's someone inside or outside but they've been trying to access your undercover deployments."

"Have they succeeded?" Jack demanded.

"Not yet. We don't think."

"You don't _think_?" Chase demanded. They were the only three in the room, since this needed to be kept quiet until they determined if they had a mole.

"They've been covering their tracks very well," Adam explained irritably. "It was sheer luck I found the traces when I did."

"We need you to be sure," Chase said. "And to stop them. Fast. Or every one of our undercover agents is in serious jeopardy, including Jack."

Chase had reason to be upset. They had just started an operation to infiltrate the Salazar drug cartel and Jack was the inside agent. Things were going well, but that could change if his cover had been compromised. But just because you had a reason to be upset didn't mean it would get things done any faster.

"He knows that, Chase," Jack said calmly. "He's doing everything he can. How soon will we know, Adam?"

"I don't know," the analyst admitted miserably. "I don't think I can do this myself, Jack. I'm good, but I'm not an expert in the IT security protocols."

"If it's someone on the inside, we can't risk letting them know we're on to them," Jack stated. "Which means we can't trust anybody here, especially not ITS. You have to do it."

"Maybe not," Chase suggested. He'd been staring at the wall, eyes focused inward until he spoke.

"What do you mean?" Adam demanded.

"I might know someone who can help. Seems to me our first priority should be finding out whether this is a mole or someone hacking us. A friend of mine – well, of my sister's, but mine as well - she's a specialist in internet security. She's very good and she owes me favour."

"What are you suggesting?" Adam sounded outraged. "That we have your friend try to hack in to CTU? For all we know, she could be the one behind the breach."

"Chloe would never do that," Chase defended his friend. He turned to Jack. "She's kind of a rule freak; she wouldn't break the law, much less violate national security. And she is an expert, she works at Fairfax Internet Security."

Jack held his young partner's eyes for a moment before nodding. "Adam, I want a background check on her, as deep as you can make it in two hours. Then we'll see."

---

Jack read through the file Adam handed him two hours later and still wasn't sure about this Chloe O'Brian. Chase wouldn't have recommended her if he didn't think she was good, but his partner wasn't exactly a computer expert. He could just be biased because she was his friend.

The woman was completely unexceptional on paper. Her mother had died when she was very young; her father was in the military and had taken her with him on deployment, so she'd been all over the world. Eleven schools in thirteen years, no more than average grades in any of her classes. Bachelor in computer science from UC Davis, better than average marks but not so high that they called attention.

Currently working as a consultant for an internet security company. No medical conditions or addictions; no psychological breakdowns and the closest she had to a police record were a couple of parking tickets, paid in full and on time.

"This isn't filling me with confidence, Chase," Jack said, looking up from the file folder.

"She can do this, Jack. And it's not like Adam won't still be working on it here. Consider it a systems test. An external review, or something."

"You really think this will work?"

"Yes." There was no doubt at all there. It was enough for Jack.

"Fine. Let's go."

--

Jack stood in the shadows of the walkway and watched, letting Chase take the lead. Actually, Chase had insisted, saying he didn't trust Jack not to scare her. The younger man knocked and several moments later a young woman answered. She didn't look like she'd been asleep, but she didn't exactly look happy to have a late night visitor either. Her blond hair was tied back in an unflattering ponytail and she was wearing faded sweats and no make-up.

"Chase? What the hell are you doing here? It's the middle of the night." She was definitely not happy. Jack wondered how Chase was going to get her to cooperate.

"I can't tell you, yet. I need you to trust me, Chloe. If you were going to hack into a highly secured system, could you do it from your laptop?"

Her brow furrowed. "Yeah. Maybe. It would depend on the system. What is this about?"

"Do you trust me?"

She opened her mouth, closed it without a word, and took a second to think hard before replying. "Yes," she admitted grudgingly.

"Then I need you to get your laptop and come with me and not ask any questions until I tell you that you can. Okay?"

She made a face, looking unhappy; glared at Chase for a moment, then disappeared into the apartment for a moment before coming out carrying a laptop case slung over her shoulder and her keys.

She balked a little when she saw Jack lurking in the shadows but Chase was already propelling her along towards the stairs, giving her no time to object, and she settled for continuing to glare at both of them.

They brought her to an empty office building, had her set up her laptop and make sure she could connect to the internet from there. When that was done, she crossed her arms in front of her and looked at Chase with raised eyebrows. Her body posture said she wasn't going to do anything more without a damn good reason.

"You can yell at me now," Chase told her.

"Because there's no one around to hear?" she asked sarcastically. "What the hell is going here, Chase? And who is _he_?" she gestured at Jack. "I'm not going to do anything illegal just because you ask me to. I'm not going to do anything at all without some kind of explanation."

"This isn't going to be illegal," Chase assured her. "And I can't explain everything right this second, but this is Jack Bauer. He's the Director of Field Ops at CTU."

"Hi," she chirped, sarcastically cheerful, to Jack before turning back to Chase. "You had your _boss_ help to kidnap me? And you asked me to hack in to somewhere and I quote 'highly secure'. How is that _not_ going to be illegal?"

"It wasn't exactly kidnapping," Jack felt obliged to point out. "You came with us of your own free will."

"Only because Chase was being so weird. And nobody's answered my other questions, yet."

She was abrasive and overly sarcastic, but she wasn't having hysterics over two armed men showing up at her door in the middle of the night and carrying her off to an empty building to do some probably illegal computer work for them. Even if she did know one of them, a lot of people wouldn't have managed to stay this calm in these circumstances. If she was scared, she wasn't showing it, and Jack admired that.

"We can't," he explained, "until you sign the paperwork."

Chase handed her the assorted non-disclosure forms, and back-dated waivers for the background and security checks they'd done on her. Despite her obvious impatience with the two agents, she did more than just glance at the papers, reading each one thoroughly before signing. She hesitated at the back dated ones, putting them in a pile to one side until she'd dealt with the rest.

"The date's wrong on these ones," she said evenly, holding the waivers up. Jack had a feeling she'd already guessed at the answer but wanted to hear them admit it.

"Well, technically, we did those checks on you yesterday," Chase admitted. The two had brief staring contest. It was Chase who broke first. "Please, Chloe."

"I'm taking an awful lot on faith here, Chase."

"I know." Chase showing humility was definitely something new. Jack's respect for Chloe O'Brian was increasing rapidly and she hadn't even touched a computer yet.

Chloe looked back and forth between the two men for a moment before pursing her lips. "Fine. You owe me. And if I get arrested, I will never forgive you, do you understand?"

"Yeah," Chase said, with a quickly suppressed smile. "Now sign them so we can fill you in."

She signed and sat back in her chair. "Now what?"

"Now you get an answer to your question," Jack said. "Someone has been trying to access files on our undercover agents. We don't know if it's someone on the inside or if someone is hacking our system. Whoever it is has been covering their tracks too well. If it is someone inside, we can't risk alerting them by launching a full investigation. But it also means we can't trust anyone at CTU until we figure that out."

"So, what do you want me to do about it?"

"The same thing you do for Fairfax clients," Chase said.

"You want me to try to hack in to CTU and access those files, without leaving a trace? Isn't this a breach of national security?"

"One of those forms was a short-term contract making you a temporary consultant for CTU, hired to test our security. I thought you read them all."

"I did. I'm still confused. That just…makes it okay?"

"Basically," Chase said.

"Then why me?"

"Because Chase assured us that if anyone could get through CTUs internet security protocols, it would be you," Jack explained.

"Thanks," she said to Chase, heavy on the sarcasm.

"I said that you could, not that you would."

"Of course I wouldn't. I can't believe I'm even contemplating it now." She paused, obviously thinking hard. "How long do I have?"

"As long as it takes," Jack said. "Within reason. We need to get this situation resolved as quickly as possible."

"Fine." With that, she turned her back on them and got to work.

She worked with a focused intensity that Jack wished more CTU analysts showed, completely ignoring the two of them unless they happened to get in her way or she needed something. She also worked fast. Adam had given them an expected time frame for someone unfamiliar with the system to do what they were asking. She'd beaten it by a couple of hours.

When she was done, she not only informed that they did in fact have a breach in their external security, but also how to catch the person or persons responsible next time they tried to get in, and how to fix the system to prevent any more breaches. All of that, along with a critique of the hacker's skills (good, but sloppy) and her opinion on the intelligence of the person in charge of their internet security (low).

Jack offered her a job on the spot. She turned him down, much to Chase's amusement.

"No offense, Mr. Bauer –"

"Jack."

"Excuse me?"

"My name is Jack."

She blinked and looked as though she was wondering what that had to do with anything. "Fine. Whatever. Jack. No offense, but I like my job, and frankly, if these are kinds of hours you keep, I'm really not interested. If you need someone to fix your system again you can call me as a consultant."

"We always need someone to fix our systems," Jack said seriously. "Terrorists are permanently trying to get in. We need someone who can stay a step ahead of them. We need the best. And you just proved that you're better than anyone we have on staff."

"The hacker hadn't actually gotten into your files, yet. You were one step ahead of them."

"I'd rather be further ahead of them than that."

"You are now," she pointed out. "I'd don't like high stress environments. I can't think of anything higher stress than what you do."

"Analysts keep standard hours," Chase mentioned. "And the starting salary is better than you're getting right now. Plus, you'd be serving your country, helping save people's lives, take down bad guys."

She shook her head, but it was at Chase's idealism rather than the idea of taking a high-stress job just because it was the patriotic thing to do. "Argue all you want, the answer's still no. Can I go home now?"

--

She'd said no for three more months. Jack let her while he worked on convincing Tony and then the people at Division that to make the files on their current operations more secure, Field Ops needed their own systems. Systems that were managed separately and had their own security protocols. No one could fault the logic, the sticking point was that it meant hiring someone to run Field Ops ITS. Tony was willing to let Jack run his department any way he saw fit; since he trusted the other man and knew Bauer worked better as an independent anyway.

Once Jack had gotten everything in motion, he'd called her again. She'd refused, again. No less than he expected. At least she was using his first name now when she said no. She also seemed more flattered than annoyed by the repeated job offers, which hadn't been the case at first. Of course, Chase had been softening her up in the intervening time. So when she refused this time, he sent his partner to talk to her with orders not to come back until she'd agreed to work for them.

Adam had hated her from day one, seeing her as competition and, more than likely, as having gotten a job that Adam felt he deserved. Jack could admit that Adam might have had a point, since the other man was the Senior Analyst for CTU. Except for the fact that Chloe _was_ better than Adam, and Jack would settle for nothing less than the best in his department. Even if she was difficult and overly-focused on following the rules.

It had caused some arguments, especially since Tony and Michelle had both disliked her from their first meeting. Fortunately for Jack, neither of them could fault her work and eventually Tony declared that since Field Ops was autonomous, their ITS would be as well. Chloe would report directly to Jack, Adam directly to Tony; and hopefully their protocols wouldn't overlap too often.

--

LA – CTU headquarters 7:05 PM (post-Day 3)

Jack became aware that he'd been watching his computer analyst sleep for several minutes now and took it as a sign of how tired he was. He needed to crash, and soon, but there were still a few things that couldn't be put off. He shook his head to clear it and went back into his office. Chloe would insist on staying as long as he did. It wouldn't hurt to let her sleep until then.

--

LA – CTU headquarters 8:10 PM (post-Day 3)

Jack caught himself falling asleep over his keyboard for the third time in half-an-hour and knew that it was time to go home. All the really urgent things had been cleared from his inbox, the rest could wait. He shut off his computer, gathered his jacket and bag and left his office.

Chloe was still fast asleep, head resting on one arm. Her face looked peaceful at rest, its harsh lines softened by the lack of light in the darkened office and the absence of her uncompromising personality. She looked happier asleep than she ever did conscious and it seemed a shame to wake her. Still, she'd be in bad shape tomorrow if she didn't get some proper sleep. Jack reached down and shook her shoulder.

"Chloe," he said softly. "You need to wake up."

"Jack? Wh-?" Her words were slurred and he waited for the hazy confusion in her eyes to clear. She rubbed her face, blinking, as memory came back to her.

"Am I still at CTU?" she asked on a yawn.

"Yeah, you must fallen asleep just before I got back in."

"I should be embarrassed but I'm too tired," she said, trying to suppress another yawn. "What time is it? How long was I asleep? Did anybody else see me?"

"It's just past eight, no more than an hour and a half, and just me," he answered her questions in order. "You know, when I told you to send the people home who'd been here the longest, that was supposed to include you."

"You weren't back yet," she said as if it was obvious. "If it includes me, it includes you. You're the one who's been shot at and-- whatnot all day. Besides I had some stuff to finish." Typical Chloe; an expression of concern immediately followed by its dismissal in favor of work.

"Whatever it is can wait," Jack assured her. "I'm leaving now, and so are you. Think you can drive yourself?"

She thought about it. "Yeah," she said, rubbing her eyes again. Then she took a closer look at him. "Can you?"

"I'll be fine. Let's go."

She just stared at him for a second. "Yeah," she agreed. "You'll be fine because I'm giving you a ride home."

He'd barely opened his mouth to argue before she interrupted him. "You look like hell, Jack, and if those after-action reports are anything close to the truth, you probably feel like it, too. Do yourself a favor and don't argue."

After spending all day being strong for those around him and trying to protect what seemed like everyone he cared about (Chase, Kim, Claudia, Tony, Michelle) and some he didn't (like Ryan Chappelle), and miserably failing; it was almost a relief that someone else wanted to take charge. Even if it was only to drive him home.

It took a moment for everything she'd said to sink in. The after-action reports. That would include Tony's statement, and the reports of everyone else who'd been in the field with him today. The odds were good that she now knew almost every despicable thing Jack had done today. Yet she was still looking at him with concern in her eyes and offering to drive him home. He felt a little part of his soul become lighter and then he did himself a favor. He didn't argue.

END


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** End To A Long Day. Chapter 2.  
**Author:** thecrystalkey  
**Summary:** Jack/Chloe friendship  
**Spoilers:** Season 3 of 24

**Disclaimer**: Nothing in '24' is mine, especially not the characters that appear or are mentioned here or any of the Day 3 plot lines mentioned. Even the background I created for Chloe came from hints dropped on the show. It all belongs to Twentieth Century Fox, Real Time Productions and its creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran.

**Author's note: **This had no second chapter when I wrote it, but someone requested one (I speak of you, Iboneki) and another comment (TobinAlbers) had me thinking that the first chapter didn't quite encompass boss/subordinate to friend/friend relationship change that occurs between Day 3 and Day 4 for Jack and Chloe. It was as a compliment and taken as such, but it gave me an Idea. Dangerous things, those. Thanks to everybody else who reviewed the first chapter and especially those that then went on to read and review my other 24 fics.  
Speaking of… In case anyone's interested, I've posted a 24/Buffy crossover, featuring Chloe, over at Twisting the Hellmouth. No Jack, sorry. It's a short little thing and not at all serious. You kinda need to have watched Buffy to get a lot of the references, hence it not being posted here.

* * *

Chloe O'Brian glanced at the man in her passenger seat. He'd fallen asleep. Not that that wasn't understandable after the day he'd had, but it wasn't like him. Jack Bauer wasn't the most trusting man in the universe, it had never given him any reason to be; and the deep sleep he seemed to have fallen into showed a level of trust in her that Chloe wasn't sure she was comfortable with. 

It made her worry a little, because he must have been a lot more exhausted than he'd looked; and he'd looked like hell. It wasn't exactly a surprise though. He'd been awake for almost two days straight; shot at, beaten, knocked unconscious, and generally put through the ringer. His best friend was in jail for treason; his partner, Chase, was in the hospital getting his hand sewn back on. He'd only found out earlier that afternoon that his daughter, his only child, had been dating Chase for three months. And that was just the personal stuff. Basically, Jack had just had the worst day ever.

She'd offered to drive him home because, while he'd looked functional (he'd woken her up from where she'd fallen asleep on her desk), she'd just known he wasn't. Maybe it had been his unguarded admission that he wasn't fine over the phone earlier that afternoon. Or the way that every time he blinked, it took a second or two longer than it should have for his eyelids to rise again. But mostly it was based on the fact that he'd been through a lot more than her, physically and emotionally, on less sleep and no food. If she felt barely functional, he probably couldn't see straight.

Not that Jack would ever have admitted it, but he'd accepted the ride.

If she'd been asked why she was so worried about a man who could more than take care of himself, the only answer she might have admitted to was that he'd saved Chase's life. The truth was that she liked him and respected him. He made decisions no else had the guts to make, regardless of the cost to himself. He would do whatever was necessary to stop anyone who threatened the US or the lives of its citizens.

People called him a hard man, and he could be; but to Chloe he would always be the Jack Bauer she'd first gotten to know. The one who'd hired her in the middle of the night to hack in to his own office's computer systems, to see if it could be done. The one who'd offered her a job on the spot when she'd succeeded, after she'd had some unflattering things to say about his current IT people. He'd called once a week thereafter, and she was sure he'd encouraged Chase's continual 'come work for CTU' campaign. Her friend had made a pitch about working for Jack every time she'd seen him for three months.

After she'd finally given in, Jack had protected her from the petty harassment of the analysts like Adam who thought they should have gotten her job. She'd gotten the job because she was better than them and had proven it. But that wasn't how the government usually worked and there had been a lot of resentment. She still wasn't completely sure how Jack had managed to cut through all the usual red tape to hire her. His nearly firing her yesterday afternoon, notwithstanding, he was the best boss she'd ever had.

Driving him home after a hellish two days was the least she could do. Looking over at him, fast asleep in the passenger seat of her car, she started to feel…protective towards him. She knew he could take care of himself, and preferred to; so it was probably stupid, but she couldn't help it. Even if you were exhausted it took a lot of trust to fall asleep in the presence of another person. At least, for someone like Jack, and for someone like her.

She smiled a little. For the hour it would take to drive the rest of the way to his house, she hoped he stayed asleep. Not just because he needed it but because, stupid as it sounded even in her head, it made her feel like she was doing something to help him.

--

He didn't wake up when she pulled up to the curb. She put the car in park and turned off the ignition. She knew she'd have to wake him, but didn't want to. She'd hoped he'd wake up himself when she turned the car off. No such luck. She reached out and touched his shoulder. And found herself pinned to the driver's side door with his hand around her throat.

"Where am I?" he demanded. "Who are you?"

She was immobilized but he wasn't squeezing her throat and she made herself stay calm. His eyes were open but he wasn't even really awake and to be honest she'd sort of expected this. The man was Special Forces and recently back from a year long undercover stint. Not only that, he'd spent the last two days reliving all kinds of memories from that undercover operation. He was bound to have some PTSD.

"Jack," she said calmly. "You have to wake up all the way. It's Chloe. I drove you home from CTU. We're outside your house."

He blinked, and this time when he looked at her she could see the recognition in his eyes. "Chloe?"

"Yeah, Jack. You're home."

He let her go and sagged into the passenger seat looking almost…defeated. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'm sorry. That shouldn't have happened."

"You have nothing to be sorry for. No harm done. And, to be honest, I was expecting some kind of reaction. It's been a rough couple of days and you were really out of it. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said, avoiding her eyes. His hand was trembling as he reached for the door handle.

She knew it would be easier to let it go. She hated this emotional stuff, never having been able to tell the difference between someone who said they were fine because they wanted to be left alone, or because they thought it was what they were supposed to say, even though they really wanted to talk. Personally, she usually wanted to be left alone, but other people didn't seem to work that way. If Chase had been around, she would have let it go, and called him to go check on Jack. But Chase was in the hospital.

"You're not fine," she contradicted him.

He looked up at her, startled. She looked pointedly down at his hand and back up to his eyes. He looked away again.

"It's nothing. I haven't slept in two days, that's all."

He was definitely lying, but it was also clear he'd rather be left alone to deal with his problems. That was fine with her, but she still felt like she should say something else.

"Listen, I know we're not exactly friends or anything, but if you--if you need anything. To, talk or s-something…" she stuttered to a halt at the look in his eyes. She dropped her eyes to the steering wheel. "Or not. I'm sorry. It's none of my business."

She expected him to open the door and get out, then. Escape her presence as gratefully as everybody else always did, when she said something completely inept. Instead, his hand covered hers where it gripped the steering wheel. Startled at the unexpected contact, she went completely still but kept her eyes on the wheel.

"Chloe, look at me." His voice was gentle but his tone made it clear that was an order, not a request. She looked up.

He held her eyes for a moment. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For offering. You were right. I'm not fine, but I will be. I just, need some time. I'll see you tomorrow?"

She nodded. "Of course."

"Good." His hand left hers and opened the passenger side door. "Sleep well," he said as he got out.

"You, too."

He gave her a half-smile that said he didn't think it was likely, but appreciated the thought.

She took a deep breath and released it when he closed the door. That had been…different. At least she didn't seem to have totally embarrassed herself in front of her boss. She started the car again but waited until he was closing the front door before pulling away and heading home.

As she drove away, she couldn't shake the feeling that her relationship with Jack Bauer had somehow changed just now. Exactly how, she wasn't sure, but something was different.

* * *

_Review. It does a body good._


End file.
